Danek S. Kaus, in an article from Las Vegas Business Press, wrote that John is making progress planning the family ski trip. He’s using the Internet to check out amenities at different lodges in Lake Tahoe and to get the best rate on air travel.

The problem is, he’s at work, using the company computer for personal reasons.

And he’s not the only one doing this.

In a survey conducted by the executive staffing service Robert Half International Inc., workers were asked how much time each day they believed they spent doing personal tasks at the office. The mean response was 36 minutes, while executives believed that employees spent 46 minutes.

Assuming that the employee response is the more accurate measure, that means three hours each week are nonproductive. Multiply that times the number of employees in the organization, and the cumulative loss of productivity can be dramatic – and costly.

Craig Kapper, regional vice president of Robert Half International Inc. in Las Vegas, said studies suggest that the amount of wasted time may double or triple during the holiday season as people shop online and plan activities.

“These things take time from delivery of projects and achieving goals on a timely basis,” Kapper said. “It is a spiraling thing, people become less productive, so a department becomes less productive.”

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Joan Goodchild from CSOonline wrote that most workers will do some kind of online shopping from their work computer in the coming weeks, according to a recent survey from ISACA, a global, nonprofit association of IT professionals. But while worker attempts to check off a holiday shopping list may pose security risks for the businesses which employ them, most organizations still don’t have an effective plan to stop the behavior – or how to educate people about the risks.

The research suggests four out of 10 Americans ages 18-24 will spend up to five hours shopping online using their work computer this holiday season. The same group is least worried about the vulnerability of their work computers, according to ISACA.

While many shoppers still prefer bricks and mortar and head to the mall the day after Thanksgiving, the Monday following Thanksgiving weekend is now known as ‘Cyber Monday’, because it has become so common for workers to begin their holiday shopping when they return to work and can use an office computer.

What are the implications? Shopping online can create a myriad of problems for a business network, including an increased risk of spam, viruses and phishing attacks in the workplace, said ISACA officials.

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